Trouble in Myanmar

About a month ago, I noticed some headlines here and there about protests being made in Myanmar (where my parents are serving a mission) after the military government raised the price of diesel to more than twice what is was and natural gas rose by almost five times its previous cost.

I asked my parents about it and they said that it was, indeed, a hardship for the Myanmar people who could no longer afford bus and taxi prices and that it was causing a lot of inflation. For those who don't know, the Myanmar government is led by a military junta, or committee of military leaders, who prevented the winner of a parliamentary election held over 17 years ago, named Aung Sun Suy Kyi, from taking her place as leader of the government. She was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1991 in conjunction with her non-violent campaign to restore the democracy, but has been under house arrest for the last 10 years.

I hope the words they carry are true

There were 50,000 monks marching yesterday. They are holding pictures of Aung Sung.

During the last month, things have escalated. The country is predominantly Buddhist and as a result, there is a large presence of Buddhist Monks. In an effort to reclaim the democracy they chose to have almost twenty years ago, they have been peaceably marching past Aung Sung's home compound the last several days. Every day it has grown and as protests are meant to do, peaceably or otherwise, the government has noticed and has been forced to react. Unfortunately, their reactions have involved tear gas and guns.

Both of these pictures make me terribly sad.

I heard from my parents this morning. They, obviously, are not out joining the throngs of protesters, so are relatively safe but it doesn't sound good to me. Here is what my mom said in an email:

We are spending a lot of time watching TV news. We went to a briefing at the US embassy this morning, but there wasn't much information. Today a curfew was announced--the staff here at our hotel was put on 7 to 7 schedules, so no one would be traveling during the curfew. Usually there is staff that works until 11:30 and a "ferry" takes them to their homes.

With the announcement that no groups larger than 5 people--a ruling that has always been in place during martial law--our classes are suspended until things quiet down--and we don't know when that will be. There will be no church meetings either for awhile. The announcement of the curfew was for 60 days.

So we are safe. We'll avoid going where there are crowds and probably watch a lot of TV for the next while.

No one really knows what to expect. The monks demonstrated again today after being told not to and there were warning shots and tear gas used on a group of monks. So it's wait and see what happens.

I'm glad they are safe but wonder how this conflict will resolve itself. My sisters, Jennifer and Sarah, and I all have tickets to go visit them in two months. Our tickets were purchased months ago, and two weeks ago, I spent $350 obtaining an expedited passport renewal as Myanmar's visa requirements include having a passport with a six-month validity and mine expires in March 2008. The fee included the new passport, the travel broker's fee, Myanmar's visa fee and the consulate fee. That might have been money better spent. We also have tickets to go to Thailand, but we're all waiting to see what happens. In the meantime, I'm glad that my parents are safe and that we live in a country, that might have lots and lots of problems, but at least we have the freedom to complain about them.